Baseball team works through early struggles

General studies junior Ben Condara up to bat during tuesday's game against Louisiana State University-Alexandria. The wolfpack is set to play Blue Mountain College this friday March 24th 2017. Photo credit: Marisabel Rodriguez

General studies junior Ben Condara up to bat during tuesday's game against Louisiana State University-Alexandria. The wolfpack is set to play Blue Mountain College this friday March 24th 2017. Photo credit: Marisabel Rodriguez

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At the midpoint of the season, Loyola University New Orleans’ baseball team holds an overall record of 15-18.

Many of those wins were earned at home, at Segnette Field in Westwego, Louisiana. Despite the team’s impressive 10 home victories, the Wolf Pack faces difficulties while away. Currently, the team holds a record of 1-5 in the Southern States Athletic Conference, with the bulk of their conference games remaining.

Doug Faust, head coach, said that some of the team’s losses may correlate with a few key injured players.

“Considering the injuries and youth of the team, I am somewhat pleased with where we are,” Faust said. “We have four of our main pitchers out and our starting shortstop out. The guys that have stepped up and filled in have done a pretty good job.”

Faust also commends the team’s fierce competitive spirit.

“Our strength to this point has been our competitiveness. We have not done any phase of the game very well, but we go out and compete as hard as we can,” Faust continued.

With team leaders like Alex Lorenzo, business senior; Ben Condara, general studies junior; Joseph Kuchler, psychology junior; Nick Moore, history and pre-law senior, freshman players can expect to learn composure, focus and a desire to continuously improve.

Lorenzo holds one of the best offensive records on the team, yet he said he doesn’t let his ego get the better of him. He advocates for humility, patience and positivity.

“I feel like I have had a pretty good season so far, but nowhere near where it could be. I’ve never really been one to focus on my individual numbers. I just really enjoy playing the way I like to play and not worrying about the end result until the game is over,” Lorenzo said.

As far as senior mentorship, Lorenzo leads by example.

“I’ve never been a very vocal leader, but the one thing I’ve tried to maintain this year as a senior is a sense of togetherness and helping the younger guys understand that individual performance shouldn’t guide the way they act for the duration of the game. Baseball is an extremely mental game, and the players who can deal with the inevitable failure of it usually end up being the most successful,” Lorenzo said.

Like Faust, Lorenzo is proud of the team’s ability to battle back and to fight against early deficits.

“We have had several games filled with late-game heroics and rallies that get us right back into the game. Not all of them have fallen our way, but the fact that we know we can play with anyone allows us to carry that confidence for 7-9 innings,” Lorenzo said. “The team has really excelled at staying together and maintaining great chemistry through the course of a rocky season. The strong bond is definitely there; now we just need to put it all together and have it transfer over to the field.”

As for the rest of the season, the baseball team’s goals include playing strong “small ball,” which means playing down to the last inch. It’s seeing the little things, such as bunting and stealing, all the way through to completion.

Condara believes that the team has a recipe for success heading into the second half of the season.

“I feel good about the team at this point. We found a mould that we believe [to be] the winning program. We’re going to bunt, we’re going to steal bases, and we’re going to try to score as many runs possible,” Condara said.

Condara also said staying focused and playing each game to completion are the two most important things the team needs to master.

“On the away game you just got to keep your focus. Sometimes it doesn’t really feel like a baseball game anymore, and sometimes it feels more like a trip or vacation. So I’d say that keeping focus and staying in the game the whole time is the most important,” Condara said.

With Condara focused on improving his batting skills, and Lorenzo deadset on getting the younger players up to par with Wolf Pack Baseball, the team zeroes in on conference play in the remaining weeks.

“Our goal is to win some conference series, there’s about 30 games left, maybe a little under, but hopefully more if we make the conference playoffs,” Condara said.